Bulldogs look to apply tough lesson vs. Caprock

By SKIP LEON Herald Sports Editor

Published 1:27 pm, Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Photo: Skip Leon/Plainview Herald

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Plainview quarterback Paxstyn Oldfield (10) runs for yardage behind the blocking of Domingo Saucedo (6) during last week's football game against Canyon. The Bulldogs are hoping to earn their first win of the season when they host Caprock on Homecoming night Friday at 7:30 p.m. less

Plainview quarterback Paxstyn Oldfield (10) runs for yardage behind the blocking of Domingo Saucedo (6) during last week's football game against Canyon. The Bulldogs are hoping to earn their first win of the ... more

Photo: Skip Leon/Plainview Herald

Bulldogs look to apply tough lesson vs. Caprock

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The Plainview Bulldogs football team learned a valuable lesson against Canyon last week. They moved the ball well against the Eagles, outgaining them by nearly 30 yards on offense. They played with great desire. The defense did not miss many tackles.

But in the end, three Plainview turnovers in the second half and some short punts into the wind from their end zone gave Canyon short fields to work with and the result was a 52-28 loss in a game that was closer than the final score indicated.

This week, the Dogs are hoping to apply those lessons when they host Caprock at 7:30 p.m. Friday night in the annual Homecoming game at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium.

Coach Ryan Rhoades said his team did a lot of good things last week. Just not enough to get a victory.

“We did most of the things that you need to do to win,” Rhoades said. “And most of the things against a good team like Canyon doesn’t win ballgames. You have to do all the things you need to do to win a game. Our kids learned a valuable lesson when they played Canyon because of that. They played as hard as they could possibly play. I think they dominated in a lot of areas.”

But it wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs to gain their first victory of the season.

“You also have to win field position. You have to win turnover margin,” Rhoades continued. “And when you don’t do that, sometimes you put yourself in a tough predicament. Our kids, no matter how hard they played, they still put themselves back against the wall a few too many times and that’s when Canyon got us. They’ve learned that lesson. And I don’t anticipate us having to re-teach it.”

This week’s game shapes up as one that could be very entertaining. Caprock runs a spread offense and throws the ball on nearly every play. They’ve scored 87 points in their first two games and given up 83. Plainview had a number of big plays last week, including passes of 68 and 51 yards to Warren Flye, a 27-yard pass from Flye to Jonathan White and a 98-yard kickoff return by Flye that was called back due to a penalty.

Caprock is averaging more than 500 yards per game passing in their first two contests. The triggerman is quarterback Victor Rodriguez, who has thrown for 10 touchdowns and been intercepted just twice.

Ten different Longhorns have caught passes, led by Austin Cruz-Riley with 14 receptions for 243 yards (17.4 average) and four touchdowns. Jordan Atkinson leads in total yards receiving with 262 on 10 catches (26.2 average) and two touchdowns.

Rhoades said that as in the Canyon game, his defense must give Caprock a number of different looks in how they line up and defend.

“I think you have to give them some different looks and different pressures because they’re good at what they do,” Rhoades said. “If you sit in one thing then it boils down to who’s better at what they do. You have to kind of meet in the middle. You don’t want to be crazy, but you do want to show them different looks where they see one thing and get another. “

Rhoades said his offense will get a number of different defensive looks from Caprock.

“They’re very multiple,” the coach said of the Longhorns’ defensive unit. “We’ve seen them in probably eight different fronts, whether the front is different because of the number of linebackers or the way they play their secondary or the number of people in the secondary or the number of people they have on the defensive line.”

Rhoades said the Caprock defense will get after a team, as well.

“They’re very aggressive,” he said. “And I think that’s their philosophy. They want to show you a million different things.”

But, Rhoades said, there is a possible advantage for an offense against such a defense. There’s the possibility that in showing so many different formations, a defense might be a jack of all trades and master of none.

“Sometimes, if you do a million different things, you might not be proficient at all of them,” Rhoades said. “And that’s what we hope they are. But even if they are proficient at all of them, we are confident in our offense’s ability to move the ball. We, obviously, have to protect the ball better.”

Plainview’s crunching ground game could be just the formula to beat a high-powered offense such as Caprock’s. The Bulldogs have shown the ability to sustain drives during their first three games. They’ve had numerous drives of more than 10 plays which have taken up five or six or seven minutes of the clock. That ability could keep the ball out of the hands of Caprock’s high-scoring spread offense.

Despite being in every game so far, the Bulldogs have yet to gain a victory. But they’ve come back to work this week with vigor and energy, Rhoades said. And he’s expecting a strong bounce-back effort on Homecoming night.

“I have very high confidence in this team’s resilience and their resources to bounce back from tough lessons,” Rhoades said. “They’ve done it all year and they’ve gotten better every week. We’re not happy with what our record is, but we’re pleased with what our effort is. And if they continue to do that, they’re going to reap the rewards.”

As a reminder, Rhoades has chosen a bible verse to illustrate the need to continue plugging away. The verse is Galatians 6:9. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for in time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

“We’ve talked to our kids about this verse this week,” Rhoades said. “We’re not doing it to convert kids to a particular religion. The verse is true. When you’re 0-3, there’s a temptation to question or to give in a little. And our kids don’t do that. We encourage that if they continue to do what’s right and what’s good, then at the proper time we’ll reap a harvest.”

The Bulldogs have been in with some strong teams in their first three games. According to the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) football poll for Region I, Class 5A, Canyon is the No. 2 ranked team behind only state power Aledo. Randall is ranked fifth and Palo Duro is the equivalent of No. 16.

“We’re not in a panicky mode at all,” Rhoades said. “We know that we’ve played three really good football teams. I think we went toe-to-toe with them pretty well. I don’t think we were intimidated by them. I think we played all of them very well in different ways in all three games. And it’s just a matter of putting all those phases into a collective effort. If we can do that, I’m very confident we will win ballgames.”